The region, located in the interior of the Amazon, is at risk of disorderly exploitation and needs to be protected – a meeting between the community, public managers and prosecutors was the beginning of the journey

The creation of a strategy of land regularization for the protection and conservation of the Médio Solimões region, in the interior of the Amazon, before a disorderly exploitation takes place, was one of the main objectives of the Médio Solimões Dialogue Forum, which took place on March 21-23, in the municipality of Tefé (AM). Pablo Galeão, the deputy coordinator of the program of Territorial Planning and Governance in the Amazon from the International Institute for Education of Brazil (IEB, an iCS grantee, and one of the organizers of the meeting), says that numerous liabilities of land regularization were identified in the region, and consequently the event served as preparation for issues such as these to be resolved at the regional level.

“These are two different instances of the same strategy, which is to mobilize the public managers to meet with the community leaders, intermediated by the Public Prosecutors, as from the Federal Prosecution Office of the State Offices of the Attorney General, so that starting from these dialogues we can obtain referrals for the claims by territory,” he explains.

With the support of iCS and the Rainforest Trust, the meeting was held, in addition to the IEB, with the National Council of Extractive Populations (CNS), the Association of Residents and Agroextractive Producers of the National Forest of Tefé and Surrounding Areas (APAFE), the Federal Prosecution Office (MPF) and the Office of the Attorney General of the State of Amazonas.

The event brought together community leaders, Offices of the Attorney General and the government to discuss land regularization in Médio Solimões / Photo Credits: Fábio de Oliveira, Franklin Pantoja and Arisney Paz